I thought I was excited last week when the mere thought of seeing a real game got my blood pumping like I was going to explode!
Then the games actually started and I watched a couple of games I didn't care about in order to make sure I was in peak form for Sunday afternoon. Thank god I did because otherwise I'd probably have died from excitement on Sunday. I still can't believe what I saw. The Chicago Bears put up 59 points on their way to trouncing the Carolina Panthers. And none of those points were a fluke. There weren't any lucky bounces, pick sixes or special team TDs. The Bears scored 59 points the old fashioned way... by driving down the field on almost every possession to steam roll last years NFC South Division Champs.
Sunday's Bears' game was one of the most perfect offensive games I have ever seen. There was simply nothing the Bears failed to do. Even a weird call on 4th and 1 from their own 20 yard line early in the game could not stop them from having the best offensive game I have ever seen from a Bears team.
I don't know where to start. So let's start with the appetizer... the passing attack. Caleb Williams threw for 269 yards on the day. That is kind of an ordinary number these days. But if you look closer, he had 200 of those yards before halftime. If he needed to throw for 400 yards, there is no doubt he would have. He 21 of 29 completions also seem equally ordinary until you dig in deeper. Of those 8 incompletions 5 of them were purposeful throwaways that preserved the Bears field position. Williams threw zero interceptions and only missed 3 passes all day. It was nearly perfect. He threw one of the prettiest touchdowns of the season when he perfectly dropped a ball of Tight End Cole Kmet's shoulder in the endzone. His other TD was on a play designed so well, Williams could have tossed it underhand to a wide up Jahdae Walker.
The only thing that stopped the Bears' passing game was their own running game. The Bears were running the ball so well, there was very little reason to pass at all in the second half. Even some of the intended passes turned into incredible runs including 65 yards and 2 touchdowns by Williams when he decided that the play would work better if he just used his legs... to run 21 miles per hour!
In an incredibly rare feet, the Bears had two guys rush for triple digits (and Williams was only 35 yards shy of being an unprecedented third). Fresh off a huge new contract, D'Andre Swift carried the ball 18 times for 124 yards and a whopping 3 touchdowns. Kyle Monangai added 10 more carries for another 100 yards. Just like Williams, if either of these guys needed to go for 200 yards, it appeared they easily would have.
I have never seen a more impressive display in my over 50 years of bears fandom. Perhaps what is most impressive is that the Bears put up 59 points and 560 yards fof total offense without their best receiver ever touching the ball. That is right. Williams favorite target and predicted breakout star Colston Loveland had exactly zero catches. Sadly the Bears just ate up too much yardage on their 60 plays to leave any left over for Loveland. Think about that. The bears ran 60 plays en route to racking up 560 yards. I'm no math major but that seems like over 9 yards per play. That is staggering!
Will the Bears do this again? Who knows? But what I do know is that for the first time in my life, thsi kind of output is possible on any given Sunday!
How did your team do?